A volunteer with a citizen patrol group faces criminal assault charges after an incident in mid-November in which police said a teenager was beaten up in a northwest Baltimore neighborhood.

Eli Werdesheim, 23, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with felony assault on accusations that he used a radio to beat a 15-year-old black boy on the head. He's a volunteer with the Jewish group Shomrim, which is the Hebrew word for guards.

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Police said the incident took place in the middle of the day on Nov. 19 along Fallstaff Road in northwest Baltimore when volunteers with the group approached the boy in two vehicles.

The boy told police he was followed by two men in a car who got out and questioned him.

According to a police report, the driver of the car said to the boy, "What's up? You're the guy from yesterday on Park Heights. You want some problems?"

The boy said he grabbed a stick for his safety but threw it down when the men approached him again.

According to a charging document, the driver also used an expletive and said to the boy, "You don't belong around here. Get out of here."

Police said the boy was thrown to the ground and held down while Werdesheim struck him with the radio.

Werdesheim's lawyer said his client had responded to a call for a suspicious person and acted in self-defense

"The information available to us is that the young man swung a 2x4 with nails in it at Mr. Werdesheim," said attorney Andrew Alperstein. "Mr. Weredesheim stepped out of the way and defended himself from imminent bodily harm from this young man's weapon."

Werdesheim is currently out on bail. No one opened the door for 11 News when a reporter went to his home on Wednesday.

Werdesheim owns a security company and served in a unit of the Israeli Special Forces, I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller said.

The Jewish Times reported that there have been recent burglaries in that area of the city, and there was an incident during which teenagers pelted a rabbi with rocks.

There is no indication that the 15-year-old boy was the subject of any investigation, Miller reported. Sources said he was charged six weeks ago as a juvenile with car theft.

A lawyer for Shomrim said Werdesheim has been suspended pending the outcome of the case.